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Oceana Dictionary Project/Grammar guide
Word order The word order of the Oceana language is less fixed than the one of the English language. Generally speaking the word order is "(adverbial) subject verbs (object) (adverbial)". Another possibility is "(adverbial) subject object verbs (adverbial)". Examples: * The train arrives at the station at three o'clock: ** That vlack usporit by that halstel po trea o'that clocke. ** That vlack usporit po trea o'that clocke by that halstel. ** Po trea o'that clocke by that halstel that vlack usporit. ** Po trea o'that clocke that vlack usporit by that halstel. ** By that halstel po trea o'that clocke that vlack usporit. ** By that halstel that vlack usporit po trea o'that clocke. * I saw the man in the pub yesterday: ** A sow that mush i that varen ewtsheare. ** A sow that mush ewtsheare i that varen. ** I that varen ewtsheare a sow that mush. ** I that varen a sow that mush ewtsheare. ** Ewtsheare i that varen a sow that mush. ** Ewtsheare a sow that mush i that varen. ** A that mush sow i that varen ewtsheare. ** A that mush sow ewtsheare i that varen. ** I that varen ewtsheare a that mush sow. ** I that varen a that mush sow ewtsheare. ** Ewtsheare i that varen a that mush sow. ** Ewtsheare a that mush sow i that varen. Unlike in English, the adverbs can't be placed between the subject and verb or between verbs: * I just saw it. I have already seen it: ** A sow it just. Af saen it retch. Noun phrases, however, may be placed inbetween two verbs, usually involving at least one infinitive: * The man can go to the station: ** That man can do that halstel got. The verb order is "finitive infinitive particle": * I should have done it. ** A bude ea don it. Adjectives Most adjectives don't inflect in the Oceana language. The are placed in front of the noun. The comparative and superlative can be formed on two ways: * Big - bigger - biggest: ** beag - mo beag/mor beag - most beag/mose beag. ** beag - beagar - beagas. Adjectives ending on -ar or -er, lose their vowel in the comparative: dober - dobrar - dobras/dobers. There is a special way to indicate that something is "too" big/old/new/fashionable etc.: * Too big: ** ta beag. ** beagurs. Please notice: "too much" is "velkar". Adverbs Adverbs tell us something about verbs, adjectives and complete sentences: * Af don it fastane: I've done it fast. * Stastane, he fell espavat: Luckily, he fell asleep. * It is un tashkine louded bieca: It is a heavily loaded car. General rules for creating adverbs from adjectives are: * If the adjective ends on a vowel: "tashki - tashkine". * If the adjective ends on -en: "denshen - denshenne". * If the adjective ends on a consonant: "deep - deepane". ''-ne'' could optionally dropped after ''-ne'' and ''-ni''. Nouns Nouns are fairly simple. The only case that has survived every day use is the nominative. The two other cases, genitive and locative, are getting out of use, as is the very rare vocative case. There are several ways to pluralize a noun. Generally, this is the pattern they follow: * Always add -s to the root, f.e. sweerk → sweerks: sʋiːχk → sʋiːχks, animals, unless: ** the noun ends on -s, then one should add -es to the root, f.e. hous → houses: ɦɒːs → ɦɒːsɛs, houses, unless: *** the last syllable is has single short vowel, then add -ses to root, thus palatalising the noun, f.e. pes → pesses: pɛs → pɛsʲɛs, dogs. * it is one of the exceptions. The genitive is constructed by adding -a (singular) or -as (plural) to the root. There are only a few exceptions to this rule. If the root already ends on -a it is changed to -á, f.e.: shelma → shelmá (preditor). The locative is constructed by adding the suffix -owey (singular, pronounce: ɔʋeɪ̯) or -oweys (plural, pronounce: ɛɪ̯s). It is hardly used and there are numerous exceptions, most of which can be traced back to Slovak declension patterns. That's also why many words of English origin lack this case. The vocative is very rare and there are only a few words which have it. They are: pan! (mister!), panney! (miss!), pasterse! (pastor!) and uchitelle! (teacher!). They can now be considered archaic. Pronouns Pronouns are sorted by kind. Demonstrative pronouns There are six demonstrative pronouns in modern Oceana: * thada (contraction of thatte da): that (singular and plural). * thattey (contraction of thatte hey): this (singular and plural). * thamea: this (near the speaker; singular and plural). * thathea: this (near the receiver; singular and plural). * tharee: that (far from the speaker; singular and plural). * they: that (far from the receiver; singular and plural). Personal pronouns The personal pronouns are: * a'' (object: ''me, genitive: eys): I. * thu (object: thu, genitive: thew): you. * ye (object: ye, genitive: yew): you (formal). * he (object: hem, genitive: hes): he. * she (object: shem, genitive: shes): she. * it (object: it/hem, genitive: oit/hes): it. * mensh (object: mensh, genitive: mensha(s)): the people. * we (object: os, genitive: weesh): we. * go (object: gem, genitive: gesh): you (plural, dated). * those (object: them, genitive: theesh): they. There is a lot of variation in the personal pronouns. Other well-known forms include: * ya (object: me, genitive: eys): I. * hine (object: hem, genitive: hes): he. * on (object: hem, genitive: shes): he. * one (object: shem, genitive: oit/hes): she. * onew (object: it/hem, genitive: hes): it. * nu (object: os, genitive: weesh): we. * os (object: os, genitive: weesh): we. * they (object: them, genitive: theesh): they. Possessive pronouns The possessive pronouns don't inflect in Oceana. They are placed in front of the noun: * My book: Mine book. The possessive pronouns are: * mine (contraction of me hine): my. * thine (contraction of thu hine): your. * yine (contraction of ye hine): your (formal). * hine: his. * shine (contraction of she hine): her. * tine (contraction of it hine): its. * ithine (contraction of it hine): its (formal, dated). * os: our. * oshine (contraction of os hine): our. * thoshine (contraction of those hine): their. * those hine: their. If the possessive pronoun is used predicatively, it is often used in combination with bwa: * He is a friend of mine: ** Hese un priatel o'mine (bwa). Reflexive pronouns There are several ways to use reflexive pronouns in Oceana. The easiest is using sa: * A sa bore: I'm bored. * Thu sa dat: You give yourself./You give yourselves. * Those sa warte: They guard themselves. Another possibility is using the person dependent reflexive pronouns: * A bore meself: I'm bored. * Thu bore thuself: You're bored. * Ye bore yeself: You're bored (formal). * He bore hemself: He's bored. * She bore hemself: She's bored. * It bore itself: It's bored. * We bore osself: We're bored. * Those bore themself: They're bored. * Mensh bore mineself: The people are bored. Relative pronouns The relative pronouns of the Oceana language are more complicated than the English ones. There is an extended system of pronouns used by mainly the older generations which directly derives from the Slovak language. First we will be making clear how the system derived from the English language works. The English system makes several distinctions and uses different pronouns for them: * what/wat (object: what/wat, genitive: what/wat): for a thing; what/which. * whin (object: whin, genitive: whina(s)): for a period of time; when. * whor (object: whor, genitive: whora(s)): for a place; where. * who (object: whom, genitive: whos): for a person; who. * wow (object: wow, genitive: wow): for a way; how. Often that is also used as a relative pronoun. The Slovak system is more extended and includes several inflections derived from Slovak: * ache (object: ache(m), genitive: achew): how. * ak (object: oum, genitive: ew): what kind/which. * came (object: came, genitive: cama(s)): where. * ked (object: kede, genitive: kedou): when. * kelke (object: kelkem, genitive: kelkew): how much (plural). * kelko (object: kelkom, genitive: kelkow): how much (singular and plural). * ko (object: kom, genitive: kow): where. * pe (object: pe, genitive: pew): where. * teda (object: tedam, genitive: tedaw): what kind/which. * (k)to (object: kom, genitive: kow): who. * tshe (object: chem, genitive: chew): what/which (plural). * tsho (object: chom, genitive: chow): what/which (singular and plural). Verbs Regular verbs Weak verbs There are two types of weak verbs: transitive and intransitive verbs. The difference origins from the original perfect and imperfect verbs in Slovak. Transitive verbs can always be used intransitively too. de spievat (to sing; transitive) de spievate (to sing; intransitive) Strong verbs Unlike weak verbs, strong verbs don't differentiate between transivity and intransivity, except for de writ/de write (to write). Their inflection could be as follows: de chest (to eat) Irregular verbs de bite (to be) def/d'ea/d'have (have) (to have) de welick (to walk) d'awnt (awnt) (to want)